Josh McCown's career year not enough to salvage Jets' passing attack in 2017

With the way Ryan Fitzpatrick played for the New York Jets in 2016, the only direction the Jets’ passing game could go in 2017 was up.

Thanks to a career year from veteran signal caller Josh McCown, the Jets’ aerial attack did improve with the 38-year old journeyman under center. Unfortunately, while the improvements were evident, New York’s passing wasn’t all that great from a statistical standpoint.

Despite ranking in the top 10 in completion percentage (63.3 percent) and 11th in interceptions thrown with 12, the Jets’ passing offense ranked 24th in the NFL and was the second-worst in the AFC East. Only the Buffalo Bills ranked behind the Jets, coming in at No. 31, second-worst in all of football.

Due in large part to John Morton’s west coast offense, which focuses on short and intermediate routes, the Jets were one of 10 teams who failed to crack 200 passing yards per game in 2017.

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When looking at the numbers, it must also be taken into account that Bryce Petty was under center for the Jets’ final three weeks of the regular season. Before Petty took over, the Jets were in the middle of the rankings in terms of total passing yards.

It’s also surprising to see the Jets ranked higher than teams like the Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens. Each of the aforementioned teams managed to rank in the bottom half of the rankings despite having a “franchise quarterback” – something the Jets do not. Green Bay, of course, was missing Aaron Rodgers for a while.

McCown did a great job for the Jets in 2017, but New York will likely have a new starting quarterback heading into Week 1 in 2018. Whether that quarterback is a pending free agent like Kirk Cousins, or a rookie like Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, remains to be seen.

However, no matter who the quarterback is, Morton will certainly be looking to climb up in the rankings in his second year as the team’s offensive coordinator.

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